Team LILACS
by Derenyx
Summary: A series following the (mis)adventures of Team LILACS, four students at Beacon Academy. Follow them through the four years of their training, and into the great beyond as professional huntresses (and huntsman). Drama, comedy (I hope at least), angst, and good times galore! Rated T, because stuff'll never get super dark, but I want to give myself room to work.
1. Cyan 'Trailer' - Cyrus Stahl

The inner metropolis of Atlas was glowing with excitement, a buzz of enthusiastic anticipation hung in the air as many of the freshly-qualified combat school students ventured towards the city's main arena, earnest to qualify for one of the world's Hunter's Academies, many with a wish to attend the prestigious Atlas Academy, while others had set their sight elsewhere to institutions like Shade, Haven and Beacon.

Among the commuters of the bustling city, students and those going about their daily business, were two hopefuls making their own way to the trial ahead of them. One, a boy, stood a head tall above the other, slender with form fitting body armour highlighted with bright cyan cloth, his neat and dark brown hair rustling slightly with the breeze as he spoke to his companion; a girl, shorter but with similar features to him, dressed in a lightweight silver-tone plate armour, with a milky-white scarf and cape. Her mousy hair tied into a neat bun.

"…and then I said, rectum? Damn near killed him!" He said, chuckling as he delivered the cheesy punchline. The laughter was short-lived, however, thanks to a sharp jab in the ribs.

"You are the worst! I was starting to find that interesting too." She snapped, pouting and withdrawing her rib.

"Okay, okay. Just warn me the next time, please Nicky?" He replied, groaning as he caught his breath from the hit; reaching a tram stop, the two sit down on one of the empty benches, cars gliding by, the soft hum of dust engines resonating in the air.

"Fiiine." Nicky sighed, glancing down at her metallic boots, the pearl-coloured trim glowing slightly. She sighed again, relaxing her posture and leaning back on the bench. Turning her head towards her companion, she continued; 'So Cyrus, you nervous? Big day ahead of us." He glanced back at her, biting his lip as he thought about it.

"A bit. I did fine on the test, just got to survive the practical… you decided where you want to go yet?" Cyrus asked, turning his body to face her slightly, resting his head on his arm.

"I think I'm going to try and get into Beacon, if I can beat my opponent I should score the right grade to make it." She replied, timidly, looking back down and nervously twiddling her thumbs. After a moment she felt his hand rustling her hair, and she looked up in surprise.

"You'll be fine, you're one of the best fighters in our year. If anything I should be worried about getting into Beacon." Chuckling the last part of the sentence, he rested his hands on his legs and looked out into the road; before having the chance to zone out though, he felt the familiar bump on the shoulder from Nicky.

"Are you kidding? You'll be fine, you'd probably be able to coast in just on your test score! Not many people score 98 percent. I mean, I got 84 percent and I'm still in the top fifteen of the year." The warm words of encouragement flowed from Nicky, as she rolled her arm over his shoulders and gave him a one-handed hug as she got up from the bench. "You'll be okay, Cy, now come on, the tram's about to get here."

* * *

The stands of the Atlesian Colosseum bustled with life, as the last-years of the several Atlesian combat schools waited for their turn to fight in one of the various fights happening on the stages. Many of the students were conversing, discussing strategy and plans for the future; however, there sat a sense of nervous anticipation in the air as everybody waited for their turn.

Returning from one of the centre kiosks, Cyrus threw himself down into the seat next to Nicky, put his feet up on the chair in front, and tilted his head back with an exasperated sigh. "That line was so long… who needs a line that long to get a number from a desk?" he groaned, grabbing a bit of the popcorn that Nicky had purchased. "What's your one, anyway?" Nicky gave him an irritated glance, before looking at her own ticket.

"53, you?" She replied, showing him the number on her screen, indicating when her turn would be to fight.

"47; guess I'm before you then." Cyrus said, glancing down at the stage, the varying terrain pieces holding eight other applicants, all in a vicious fight to prove themselves; looking up at the screen overlooking the area, he could see the aura indicators of each one in varying states of depletion and the number in the corner of the panel showing the number 46.

"Did you manage to get it working last night? You were still in the workshop when I went to bed last night." Nicky asked, motioning to the metallic cyan case that laid at Cyrus' feet, the digital lock glowing faintly in the leg-area.

"I think so, it was hard to keep the dust stabiliser operational with the change in energy demand, but I think I got it to work." Gingerly wrapping his fingers around the handle, he glanced down at the lock, running his spare thumb against the lighted panel. Pulling it onto his lap, the blue light turned green and flashed 'Hello!' before pulling up several icons, one of which indicating an opened padlock; tapping the unlock, the case hissed and hinged open.

Inside was a modular rifle, pulling out one of the two dust stabilisers from it, Cyrus held it up to the light, looking at all of the individual connectors and capacitors within it.

"It looks alright, nothing different from when I finished last night, so it should hold up." He remarked, clipping the stabiliser into the receiver of the rifle and sliding up the shield plate on the side to cover it. "Actually got it to work more efficiently than I planned, it won't kill a dust capsule in a few shots anymore."

"Well look at you! My big genius of a brother!" Nicky laughed, ruffling his hair with a big smirk on her face; pulling back, she kicked her legs out and rested in her chair, putting her hands behind her head and looking outwards. "You'll be fine, don't worry about it, okay?"

"What makes you say that?" Throwing a knowing glare his way, Cyrus's eyes widened as we understood the look. "That obvious, huh?"

"Yeeeup… It's normal, though, focus on Beacon. That's what you're fighting for."

"Alright. Yeah. I'll try. Thanks sis." Cyrus said, holding his fist out.

"I try; good luck, okay?" Nicky replied, returning the gesture, as the call for round 47 appeared on the big screen.

* * *

The soft humming of working motors filled the stage as the eight podiums rose from under the arena, each one holding a combatant; poised for combat, Cyrus braced himself for the rush of warm air that hit him as he crested into the hot, fiery terrain of the arena. Glancing in front of him, he could see the peeking canopy of the tree biome that filled the other half of the arena. He looked at the display on his scroll, showing a timer count down from ten.

Nine. _Check the bracings._ Cyrus ran his fingers over the rifle in his hands, ensuring the components were mounted correctly.

Eight.

Seven.

Six. _Check the drum._ Pulling down a switch on the side of the the rifle, Cyrus gave the weapon's drum a brief rotation, the caps of the loaded dust cylinders glowing green indicating their full capacity.

Five. Cyrus secured the drum back in place.

Four.

Three. _Power on._ Flicking the main switch next to the trigger, the gun hummed faintly as it turned to life, the lights on its accents glowing a bright cyan.

Two. _Choices._ He cast his eyes over the terrain around him, deciding the optimal direction to take.

One. _Brace._ Tensing his muscles, Cyrus poised himself to enter battle.

"Begin." The announcer called, and the barriers surrounding the podium retreated down; Cyrus bolted to right, climbing up the rocky knoll in an attempt to gain the high ground. No sooner did he make it behind the cover of the hill did a large cross-blade whir past his head, the power of the throw brushing his hair. Having looped back, Cyrus readied his rifle and peeked over the edge to find his attacker; a tall girl with form-fitting mint-coloured armour, and a scowl on her face.

"Oh for f-" Cyrus sighed, yelping as the blade's trajectory interrupted him again, barely ducking in time. Once it cleared, he jumped up once again, aiming and opening fire at his opponent; the barrel glowed as bolts of ice dust arced towards her, forcing her to take cover. Fully stepping up from his cover, Cyrus turned the drum so that the orange dust canister was loaded, his suppression turning into an explosive barrage, chipping away at the rock face she was hidden behind. Easing up the attack, he peered into the smoke to try and find her; much to his surprise, his assailant came flying out of the fire at full force, winding him with a swipe in the lower chest with the blunt part of the blade.

"The heck is your problem with me Speare?" Cyrus winced, backtracking to avoid the sweeping attacks while he tried to recover. "I know you don't like me, but this isn't a fight to the death."

"Fuck off Stahl!" Speare growled, kicking at his feet and tripping him; holding her blade up and resting her foot on his chest, she got ready to deal the executing blow. Taking the opportunity, Cyrus rolled to the side and in doing so knocked Speare off balance; tumbling down the hill, he turned to catch himself and brought up his rifle. Hitting a switch above the trigger, the barrel extended out and the sight's display changed; flicking the drum again and pressing the trigger, a three-shot burst of wind dust bellowed out of the gun. The shots crashed into Speare and threw her down the other side of the mountain.

Scrambling up the hill, Cyrus took a look at the large screen; three of the eight combatants were eliminated, and most of them were on around half of their aura. Except one person, and when he crested the hill once more, two things happened. On the one hand, Speare once again leapt at him, however just as she would have made contact, an explosive dust shell erupted against her abdomen, blasting her and Cyrus apart from each other.

Not missing a moment, the mid-air Speare clicked part of her cross-blade's handle, blades layering over each other to become two, then the centre ring split and began to form a stock as the blades unfolded into gun barrels. Now armed with a dual pair of double-barrelled dust cannons, she began unloading a volley of fire at the stunned Cyrus; who promptly staggered behind a rock to avoid the powerful wind dust shots. Sneaking a peek over the battle field, he could see seemingly random shots ring out at the various fights occurring, but no source in sight.

"Speare, l-" Cyrus started, interrupted as a shot rang past, just in front of his face. "SPEARE, there's a sniper!" Speare turned to check the battlefield, momentarily letting down her volley of gunfire. _Bingo._ Stepping out of his cover and spinning the barrel to a canister of a silver-blue colour dust, Cyrus took aim and let fly a burst of highly potent concussion dust; the dimly glowing shots slamming into her unsuspecting torso and sending her flying backwards, landing roughly into the flat zone outside the arena.

"Right, now let's see where our sniper friend is." Cyrus muttered, having taken cover behind his rock again. Clipping the attachable scope off his belt, he used it to survey the rest of the battlefield; after some searching, he noticed a slight glare from within the treeline. "Got you." Sliding the standard sights off, Cyrus clicked in the scope and aimed the rifle at the tree line. Pressing the trigger, a burst of fire dust erupted from the rifle, the spinning bolts pluming fire across the battlefield, the tree line where the sniper was erupting into flame. Glancing up at the scoreboard, he noticed the aura bar that had previously said 100 slide down to 92, continuing to tick down to 86. "A small aura, figures."

Sliding down the back side of the hill, Cyrus began to sprint along the outer rim of the arena, attempting to try and engage the now dishevelled sniper at a closer distance. Crossing into the burning trees, smoke began to reduce visibility and make it hard to navigate, watching as best as possible for the movement of the sniper, Cyrus moved cautiously.

Spotting each other at the same time, him and the sniper both fired and strafed to cover at the same time; leaping behind a scorched tree trunk, Cyrus took a moment to gather his bearings. Glancing at the scoreboard once again, he saw the match up; his 21% aura to the sniper's 84%. _If I move out of cover, I'll get shot out. My only hope is if I can get him out before he hits me._ Gazing curiously at his rifle, Cyrus made his mind up. Sliding back and going prone, he punched a hole through the dead log he was behind, using the hole to line up his shot.

Flicking the switch above his trigger once again, the barrel expanded upwards and downwards, the internal components sliding to form a brace over the interior barrel, lights within it started to glow bright as the stock expanded, and he turned the drum to the yellow shock-dust canister. Shutting his eyes and pulling the trigger, a ferocious roar of static erupted from his rifle, the larger shot of dust booming out the barrel towards his opponent, the electrical energy surging outwards as the shot blew through the tree the sniper was behind and sending electrical energy rippling through his body. Cyrus watched as his aura meter dropped by over half just from the shot alone, with the electrical shock dropping him below the minimum 15%.

"Please don't explode, please don't explode." Cyrus muttered, sighing with relief as the coil around the barrel of his gun dimmed down without incident. Hearing a beep from his scroll, he opened it to the realisation that he was out. "What? Why? Huh?!" He panicked, picking himself up off the floor as he realised that, in all of his adrenaline, he didn't realise he had rolled into a fire. "Damn it." He sighed, as he stood up and shuffled off the arena floor.

* * *

Cyrus began to approach the stands, his rifle hanging from one of his hands as he staggered to his seat with exhaustion. Dropping into the cushioned chair, his body went limp with relief, albeit a relief swiftly interrupted with an arm roughly wrapped around his neck.

"Loook at you, two eliminations. When did my big brother get so good?" Nicky teased, pulling his head closer and resting it in the nook of her arm, lightly resting hers on his. "What _is_ the deal between you and Speare anyway?"

"Ah well, you know, she's… uh… competitive?"

"Stop dodging the question jackass." She replied, giving him a sharp jab in the chest with her fist.

"Ow! Damn." Cyrus cursed, wincing from the blow. "Some stuff happened, she's jealous of my success maybe?"

"You broke up with her, didn't you?

"Wh-wh-what?!" Cyrus stumbled, turning to face Nicky with wide eyes.

"I KNEW IT!" She exclaimed, probably a bit louder than she should have given the setting. "What broke up the perfect romance, then?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh don't give me that. I'll hit you again. You guys were the most adorable 'secret couple' ever, she was over for dinner every night and everything."

"Fine, fine. Just… shut up, alright?" Cyrus asked with a panicked tone, scanning the seats around them. "I think it was when I was like, 12? It was the normal kiddy stuff, a heart attack from hand holding and all of that stuff."

"Pfft, hand holding?" Nicky laughed, brushing her hand past her face as she feigned wiping a tear. "I distinctly remember spotting you two with your tongues down each other's throats at the Summer Ball that year."

"That wasn't me. Furthest we ever got was the hand holding."

"Look, I saw it, you can't den… oh." Nicky chuckled, catching on to his meaning towards the end of her sentence. "Ooooooh. Damn. That sucks. Why is she pissed at you then?"

"I called her out on it in school the next day."

"Yikes."

"So yeah, she wasn't happy about me 'humiliating' her." Cyrus sighed, pulling off Nicky and slumping in his seat, putting his feet up on the row in front of him. As he did, his scroll beeped with a new message. "Here, you look." Cyrus said, handing her the device. Opening it up, Nicky scrolled to the message and began to read the contents.

"Says here you scored a B for your overall fighting capabilities. Got an S for Resourcefulness and Opportunism though. Nicely done Cy!" Nicky smirked, nudging his arm affectionately. "Looks like you pulled it off! Beacon won't know what hit them when the new year rolls around, eh?" She continued, ruffling his hair as she handed him the scroll, a cheerful grin on his face.

"Alright; but don't leave me alone, okay? You've got to make it in too." Cyrus replied, patting her shoulder before turning back down to the combat breakdown on his scroll.

"You got it!" Nicky yelled, punching her arms into the air, before bringing them together and cracking her knuckles. Noticing the number on screen change to 51, she pulled herself out of the chair and grabbed the sheathed claymore resting beside her. "I'm gonna go and make sure I'm warmed up for my fight, okay?"

"Gotcha. Good luck!" Cyrus beamed, giving her a thumbs up, before returning to his scroll.

"They're gonna need it." Nicky chuckled as she walked off, sword in tow.

"They sure are, sis." Cyrus whispered to himself, glancing upwards at the figure walking away before returning to his scroll.

* * *

 **Right, there we go! First one done and three more to go. Really glad to finally get this one out, because it just kept _going_ and _going._ The goal with the trailer series is to give a glimpse at the characters of team LILACS and also a few side characters (Nicky will be in the story quite consistently, but as part of the _much more badassly-named_ Team PUMPKIN.). Unfortunately, the trailers likely won't be as long as this one, however the same thing could happen and it could drag on like this one did.**

 **I'm completely open to feedback, as I want this to be as good as it can be, so anything that can make it better will be greatly appreciated!**

 **Cheers for reading, and hope to keep you along!**

 _ **-Nyx**_


	2. Azure 'Trailer' - Azura Platanam

The cool night breeze swept through the streets of Mistral, the clean navy sky ablaze as hundreds of stars showed their light and the moon and its fragments hung vibrantly; the still air holding a gentle silence. Dim white lanterns casted enchanting light over the courtyard of the Platanam household, lighting up the intertwining cobbled paths winding through the garden.

A small and slender figure strode softly over the rough cobblestones, the silver-blue fox's tail waving gently behind her; dressed in a simple and modest azure tunic hung on her shoulders, shimmering slightly in the moon light. Holding the long plait draped over her shoulder, she approached one of the doors of the buildings branching off the courtyard, and knocked timidly. There was a moment's silence and then…

"Come in." Replied a soft masculine voice, drifting out from the quiet room. Opening the door, the girl stepped into the warm office, illuminated by a series of wall-mounted lanterns glowing with a golden light while cackling from the dust-treated logs burning within. Wisps of smoke floated upwards in the room towards a central chimney in the ceiling, spiralling out into the night sky.

"Father." She said, looking at the scrawny figure hunched over an ornate desk, the dark wood contrasted by the smooth pale stone embedded on the top and the sides. Hearing the voice, his head picked up and tilted to the right slightly, the fox ears on his head twitching. Content, he slid his chair back and turned to face her.

"Ah, evening Azura." He replied, a slightly wistful note in his voice.

"Evening, are you okay father?" She asked, stepping forward and reaching out to rest her hand on his shoulder.

"I apologise; I was expecting your mother." He mumbled, breaking his eye contact with her.

"Dad…" Azura whispered, dropping her composure as she grabbed a nearby stool and pulled it softly towards them for her to rest on. "You can't stay like this." She continued, her eyes taking a slightly warmer tint from their usual faintly-blue tone.

"I… appreciate the thought Azura, I do." He half-heartedly responded, brushing her hand off his shoulder before turning to the desk. "Have you given thought to what you're going to do now? You're at an important stage of your life now, and you have an important decision to make."

"I want to become a huntress." Her comment was met with silence, only broken by the pen dropping from his hand as it slackened, before clenching into a fist. "Father, I know it's been difficult after what happened to mother, but it hasn't changed my mind." Looking down at her intertwined hands, she shuffled nervously.

"Has it not?" He muttered, sighing deeply before moving his pen back to his paper. "May I ask you a question, Azura?"

"Of course, father."

"Why?" Looking up in surprise, her wide eyes looked at the back of her father's chair, before glancing back down. "Are you trying to follow in her footsteps?"

"W-what?" Taken aback, Azura shuffled uncomfortably on her stool. "N-no. I'm not."

"If not, why then? You know as well as I do what happened to your mother. That may very well happen to you."

"I know, I really do. I just believe that… that being a huntress is what I want to do. I think that's how I can best help people, how I can best use my gift." The last part of her sentence made him stop writing again, his hand freezing in place over the paper.

"You think being a huntress will let you help people the best?" With a soft exhale, he put down the pen and turned around to face her, the usually stoic eyes glistening slightly. "In exchange for your own safety?"

"I do."

"That's what your mother told me too. When I first met her." The shimmering eyes glanced upwards to a portrait on the wall, depicting a woman adorned in a rich blue coat, a beautifully crafted sword in her hands identical to the one in a display case beneath it. "All she cared about was helping others. I think that is why I fell in love with her." Looking down, a tear fell and splashed on the floor.

"Father?" Azura asked, concern wavering in her voice as she reached for a handkerchief.

"Why a huntress, Azura?" He said, looking at her in the eyes as he said it. "Why not become a diplomat, a negotiator, something else that helps people? Something that isn't so dangerous." Taking the cloth and wiping his eyes, he continued; "Losing your mother shook me enough, I don't know how I would cope if I lost you too. Think of Nathan too, after what happened he completely withdrew himself."

"I know, father, but I can just feel that… that it's my calling." Azura replied, a quivering confidence in her voice, a lone tear swelling in her eye. "I know what happened to mother, but I don't think I could forgive myself if I abandoned this."

"I understand." He answered, drying his eyes before turning back to his desk. "I don't particularly agree with your decision, but it isn't my place to tell you how to live your life." Sweeping his eyes over his desk, he turned his head to face her general direction. "Would you pass me my scroll?" Scurrying over to the other side of the room, where a smooth coal coloured piece of metal rested on a small coffee table. Handing it back to him, he opened it and moved to his desk once more.

"Is it still possible for me to enrol this year?" She asked, sitting back down on the wooden stool and arching her back to peer at the scroll.

"Not at Haven. I believe they finalised their roster a few weeks again." Looking at her, he handed her the opened scroll with a picture of Beacon Academy, the tall emerald tower standing above the grand structure of the academy's main hall. "However, Beacon screens applicants almost until the opening day of the year, and I have some favours owed to me by the headmaster. If you're really sure, I could get you a spot in the application process."

"I would like that." Azura smiled, standing up from her seat and looking at the brazier on the wall, the light being casted now dimmer than when she entered. Walking to the chair, she hugged her father. "Thanks dad. Try to get some sleep, okay? It's getting late." Pulling herself back up and heading towards the door, she looked back at the chair, a soft smile on her face as her eyes glowed with a faint yellow tint.

* * *

 **Whew! Two down, two to go! Had a lot of fun writing this one because Azura is probably my favourite of the four for many reasons.**

 **This is probably much more indicative of the kind of length to expect from the other two 'trailers', in terms of the actual chapters you'll be looking at something in the region of Cyrus' trailer.**

 **Now then, it is pretty likely that the next 'trailer' will be our second lovely lady, the colourful future team leader from Vacuo, Lily Mithril!**

 _ **-Nyx**_


	3. Lilac 'Trailer' - Lily Mithril

**Here it is! Lily's chapter! I hope ya'll enjoy it because I was a bit disputed about this one, I feel like I probably could have done it better but hey, I'm overly self-critical so it could be fine!**

 **Heads up, there's nothing explicit but there's some slightly mature references (I promise it's still really tame though.)**

* * *

"Uuuuuhhh… my head huurts." The groan, coming from a mess sprawled under the bed's covers, trailed off into a strained croak; the half-asleep figure crawling up into a ball and moving the sheets to obscure the bright Vacuan sun. "Mornin' Caden." The voice came again, slightly more composed this time; the other person in the room sat looking at the panel of the computer on the other side of the room, hearing her voice, he turned his head.

"Mornin' Lily. Left you some water and a couple'a painkillers on the table there." He said, turning back to his work. Meekly reaching out, Lily took a sip of the water with the small tablet, before retreating under the covers. "Hell of'a party last night." Taking a minute to compose herself, Lily sat up on the bed slowly, squinting at the overpowering light from outside the window.

"Damn straight. What time is it?" Lily asked, sitting up fully and turning to rest on the edge of the bed.

"Little after noon; I pressed your clothes and left them on the side there. They got preeeetty ruffled up last night." Caden replied, winking at her with a mischievous grin.

"You're a star. How you don't have a girlfriend yet, I'll never know." She chuckled, tentatively stepping off the bed, the sheets slipping off her unclothed body; standing up fully, she stretched her arms out and let out a huge yawn. "Enjoying the view?" She asked, peeking down with her arms still stretched up towards the ceiling.

"Savouring the moment." He answered, raising his eyebrows suggestively before turning back to the screen. "Got a clean towel over here if you want a shower." He continued, vaguely nodding his head at the shelf beside him, slowly walking over to him she gave him a hard pat on the shoulder before resting on him to reach over for the towel. Holding the fluffy fabric against her chest she hunched her back and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Just finalising my stuff for Haven."

"So you really are going, huh? Here I was thinkin' my favourite guy would join me at Beacon." Lily pouted, softly bumping her head against his as she looked at the text on the screen; all of it fairly standard legal and information queries. "What will I ever do if I need some company?"

"You're you, you'll figure something out." Caden replied, as he continued to enter information into the digital form.

"I knooow, but what if I never find someone as good in the sack as you?" Standing up straight again, Lily started to walk out of the room. "Then I'll meet you again when we're all trained and you'll have found yourself a gal..." Reaching the doorway, she turned around and leant against the hallway wall. "...and I'll never know true satisfaction again! The horror!" Holding her arm against her head as she sunk down the wall, feigning faintness; the speech would have continued if it weren't for the soft cushion from Caden's seat hitting her in the face. "Oh, I get it! You don't love me anymore, well I see how it is! Hmph!" She declared, standing back up and holding her head in the air.

* * *

Some time later, Lily found herself sitting on the bed once again, the large white towel snugly wrapped around her. The softer light of the afternoon Vacuan sun giving her fair skin a warm glow, and her faintly-purple hair shimmered in an enchanting shine as it sat comfortably on her somewhat broad shoulders. The towel clung tightly to her slightly-built slender frame, the light inclines indicating muscle evident without being obvious.

Pulling out her scroll, she opened it to it's full size and opened up the messaging service; sliding down the list of contacts she finally reached the bottom option, the little green light indicating that they were available. Tapping the tab, she readjusted her towel to make sure everything was covered; after about 20 seconds, the messaging screen minimised to be replaced with a camera view of an older girl, similar in appearance to Lily herself.

"Hey sis!" Lily said, flashing a cheeky grin at the screen.

"You're calling late, we've been waiting all day!" Lily's sister replied, squinting angrily at the screen before performing the same feigned pout she herself did earlier.

"Hey Amy." Lily sighed, repeating herself with a fed up look on her face. Admitting defeat, Lily's sister turned back to face the camera.

"Hi Lil'" Amy answered before looking away from the camera again. "Hey Vern! Hold the fort for a minute, will ya?" Met with a muffled complaint from somewhere else in the large kitchen, Amy called again; "It's my sister! I want to find out how she did on her entrance examinations!" A loud shout of realisation followed and Lily saw a hand stick up from behind one of the large ovens, with the thumb up. "Cheers Vern!" Exiting the kitchen, Amy looked back to the scroll and continued; "So where have you been all day then?" Looking down, she noticed the towel wrapped around Lily and sighed with exasperation.

"Who was it, Lily?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Who'd you end up going home with?" Perching the scroll on a table, Amy rested herself on the bench opposite and looked at the character.

"Oh, right. Caden."

"Fair enough. You guys official now, or what?" Amy said, leaning back against the backboard of the bench and folding her arms.

"Nah. This whole 'casual' thing works great for both of us; and you know as well as I do that exclusivity isn't really my thing."

"Do I ever." The mumbled utterance was ignored by Lily, so Amy moved to change the subject. "So anyway, how did you do? Mum and dad've been calling me all day waiting for you to get in touch."

"Oh yeah! Hold on." Lily hurriedly minimised the chat window and opened up another message from her inbox, displaying her examination statistics. "Let's see… 84% average, 96% combat and 71% on the tests."

"84% is good right? What did you need to get to make it into Beacon?"

"70% to be considered, 80% for the guaranteed place." The phrase had been a mantra Lily drilled into her mind over the entire examination season, as her motivation.

"So my little sister's off to become a Huntress! Aww, I'm proud of you!" Amy's stony and exasperated expression shifting to one of absolute joy, a beaming smile on her face reaching ear-to-ear. "Well then, dear sister of mine, I'll run upstairs and let mum and dad know now. If you can get here before his shift ends, I'll get Vern to make some of his special lasagna that you love."

"REALLY?!" Gasping with delight, Lily flung the scroll onto the bed and scrambled to her neatly folded clothes, rushing to put them on as she continued talking. "I'll be over as quick as I can, alright? I'll just need to say bye to Caden and then make my way over."

"Cool, anyway I've been out of the kitchen too long. Don't make it a long goodbye, eh?" Amy replied, accentuating the last part with an exaggerated wink.

"I dunno, I might feel the urge…" Lily smirked, looking at the camera with a rather sultry bump of the eyebrows. Unable to focus on the performance for long, she burst out laughing. "Don't worry Amy, I'll make it quick." She said, delivering a similarly exaggerated wink alongside the addition. "Love ya, sis. See you soon!"

"Seeya soon Lil, don't be a stranger." Waving gently towards the camera, Amy reached forward and the feed went dead as she hung up. Rapidly buttoning up her shirt, Lily picked her scroll back up and shrunk it back down, slipping the small white oval into her pocket before jogging out of the room.

* * *

 **Whew! Glad to have that one out of the way. I know _certain_ aspects of her personality came on quite thick in this, but I promise there is a method to my madness and I'll go into it a bit more when I do my trailer breakdown in between the final intro chapter and the first real chapter.**

 **The next one up should be a bit more basic, making our way down to Vale for some sweet Grimm killing action and the introduction of our third (fourth if you count Nicky) heroine, the badass Miss Skye Kobalt! There'll also be another face from Team PUMPKIN.**

 **Anyhoo, I'm going to give my poor fingers a break and stop typing for a while (bleedin' school). If all goes to plan I'll hopefully have Skye's chapter out Saturday night or sometime during Sunday.**

 _ **-Nyx**_


	4. Sky Blue 'Trailer' - Skye Kobalt

**Boy, this one ended up being a _lot_ longer than I planned it to be. My hand hurts...**

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Greenbriar Gorge was a small settlement in the outlying wilderness of Vale, hanging on the kingdom's eastern border it served as the last instance of civilisation before the wild and untamed Grimmlands, the narrow pass forming one of the kingdom's famous natural barriers, the sheer faces and deep caves making the surrounding regions difficult for both humans and Grimm to navigate.

The morning wind whistled through the gorge, it's echo sweeping through and ringing in amongst the sprawl of houses and buildings within the village; cosy timber structures nestled close to the gorge walls and wrapped around the small stream winding its way through the settlement's center. One of these buildings, by far one of the largest, sat towards the mouth of the gorge at the village's outer border, sitting close to the large and imposing gate leading to the wilderness beyond.

The building itself was the town's inn and lodge, the widest of all of the town's structures and the tallest as well; built from strong log walls and heavy blocks of the region's famous granite, it cast a comforting and warm glow from it's windows. The interior was modest; wooden surfaces polished to a shine with dull brass accents, the seats and floors lined with a rich red fabric. The walls were lined with the recreated heads of various different creatures of Grimm known to inhabit the region; ursai, beowolves, bobcats, even a gryffon.

The lodge was quiet, much of the town's population still clinging to sleep as the sun rolled in with the morning; however there were three inhabitants sitting lazily in the warm glow. The innkeeper, a man with thinning silver hair and a spry build stood polishing a glass behind the bar, occasionally glancing at the door expectantly. In one of the booths sat two teens, the first a red-headed boy with a slender frame and clear, pale skin, wrapped in loose and baggy robes of a cream colour, embroidered with red and orange threads. The other was a fair-haired girl; taller than her companion, her body was also bulkier, with fairly distinguishable muscles and skin with a very light tan; leant over a large sword resting on the table, tinkering with some of the mechanical parts within the handle. Leaning over the table, the boy whispered to the girl.

"Hey Skye, why do you think Mr. Rat called us here so early?" He asked, bobbing his head towards the man at the bar, who was now polishing the wood counter and looking at the door. Looking upwards, Skye glanced at Rat before turning back.

"No idea. He wouldn't have called us here this early on a whim though. Something's gotta be up." The soft whisper came back, met with a loud click as she moved one of the sword's gears back into place, before locking in the mechanism and replacing the panel on the hilt. "Must be something important too; normally he's out on patrol this early."

"Normally I'm snoring into my pillow this early!" The boy responded, throwing himself back into the seat with an exaggerated yawn. "Humans weren't designed to be up before the sun."

"Quit your groaning Jacko; if you want to be a guard then being up this early'll be part of the job." Skye sighed, resting her arms on the table and slumping her head on them. "Could have let us sleep in a _little_ though, we've been sitting here for an hour and nothing's happened." Lazily turning her head to face the counter, she began to speak; "Mr. Rat, what are we wai-"

"WHAT HO!" A voice said as the door crashed open, startling everyone inside. In the open doorway stood a short man, solidly built with well-kempt hair the colour of hay; the light catching his burgundy jacket and glowing on the golden buttons lining it. Glancing around the room, he took in the startled faces staring at him. "Well now, I know I am truly a sight to behold, but it is unbecoming for a hunter to be dazzled so easily!" He guffawed, his thick mustache surprisingly animated as he spoke.

"Ah, uh, morning! Are you from Beacon?" Asked Rat, a hesitant smile on his face as he motioned for the man to come in; accepting the welcome, the man strode up to the bar and sat down.

"Indeed I am!" Extending out his hand, he continued; "The name is Peter Port! Huntsman extraordinaire and Professor of Grim Studies at Beacon Academy, at your service!" Looking at the bottles of drink lining the counter, he turned back to the counter. "I'll take one of your strongest whisky! Single-malt, please."

"Whisky..? Is it wise to have a drink before an outing?" Rat asked apprehensively, reaching for a small brown bottle at the back of the bar. In the booth, Skye and Jacko looked at each other with confusion and a hint of disbelief.

"Of course! Nothing like a good drink to light the fire under the senses!" Port boomed, placing the lien on the counter and accepting the small glass. Taking a sip, he spun around on the table to face the two in the booth. "Ah, good stuff. Is this them then?"

"It would be, yes. They are Skye Kobalt and Jacko Laindeir, my two most advanced apprentices." Introducing the two, Rat motioned for them to stand up. Doing so, the two bowed their heads and stood with their backs straight, facing the professor.

"They certainly look the part! Not to my caliber, but still impressive nonetheless!" Standing up, Port looked the two of them over. "Have you been told why I am here?"

"No, sir." Came the reply.

"Ah, very well! I... am Professor Port, a member of staff at Beacon Academy. One of the responsibilities of the academy is to liaise among the many small settlements of the kingdom lying outside of Vale itself; based on your mentor's nomination, we believe you may have what it takes to attend the academy." Turning his head back, he nodded to Rat to continue.

"Aptly described, professor." Rat said, walking out of the bar and sitting on a stool next to Port. "I believe you two could go on to become a fully-fledged huntsman and huntress; the professor is here to shadow us on a mission to observe your combat proficiency." Skye and Jacko looked at each other, wide-eyed expressions on their faces.

"Ha hah! Excited?" Port asked them, the two nodding hesitantly. "Beacon is a wonderful institution to learn; why, if you were wondering the quality of education there then no worry! You need look no further than myself to see the quality of Beacon's scholarship!" He continued, with a hearty laugh.

"Indeed. I have been saving a particular job specifically for this observation. We will be making our way to a medium-sized beowolf nest to the north-east, eliminating the threat, and Professor Port will promptly deliver an evaluation of your performance. Understood?" Rat's briefing was met by another dutiful nod.

"Very good! Shall we go, then?" Port asked, taking his blunderaxe from its sling and resting it in the nook of his arm.

"I think so." Rat replied; stepping to the bar, he called out to the back. "Mol! Hold down the fort, will you?" In answer a dark-haired woman's head appeared around the corner, smiling at the group and waving her clawed hands. "Sure thing, Rat. I'll have a feast ready for when you're back!" She giggled, before retreating around the corner.

Opening the now slightly loose door, Rat moved to allow the other three through. Assembling outside, the group departed towards the large wooden gate of the town, an imposingly large piece of bound-together timber with heavy steel bars running across it and the frame. Rat nodded to the half-asleep guards on the gate's walls, who promptly pulled a lever and set the door to open, allowing them to pass into the wilderness beyond. Naturally, Professor Port was the first to break the silence.

"A beowolf nest, eh? Reminds me of the time I unknowingly found myself surrounded by an entire pack! Armed with nothing but my trusty comb, mustache wax, and my sheer tenacity! It all began…"

* * *

Cresting the rocky outcrop, Rat pointed his rifle towards a cave indented at the bottom of a nearby rock face, a scattering of young beowolves lingering around the outside and a couple of grown up ones stood watching them; motioning towards it with the gun, he turned his head to the rest of the party.

"That right there, is the nest. Jacko, your job is to destroy it, Skye, your job is to escort him and eliminate the Grimm. Understood?"

"Yessir." Skye and Jacko replied in unison; getting up from their prone position, they began to move back down the outcrop they were on, moving towards a route to the nest.

"Good; me and the Professor will wait up here, ready to intervene if needs be. Good luck." Rat said, giving them a quick nod before turning back to look over the edge.

Sneaking through the rocky landscape, Skye and Jacko tried to keep to the shade of the trees scattered among the grassy regions of the surface, seeking for a good position to initiate combat. Spotting a small path-like edge running over the cave, Skye turned to Jacko.

"If you go up there, then I can engage them and you can attack from above." She said, pointing to the overhang. Satisfied with his nod in response, she began to sneak towards the clearing while he went for the vantage point; pulling the greatsword off it's mount on her back, she slipped into a thicket directly opposite the cave's mouth. Looking at the canine Grimm, she picked out her target; one of the adolescent ones that was closest to her, it's back turned.

Leaping from her cover, she charged the beast with a roar and crashed the blade into the beast's side; cleaving a large gash into it, she then used her momentum to kick the back of it's knee and then shove it to the ground. Raising up the blade she crashed it down onto its neck, cleanly tearing it's head off it's body. Looking up, she saw the rest of the pack outside of the cave glaring at her, angry growls resonating within the clearing as they got louder.

In response, Skye withdrew her blade from the ground and slung it over her shoulder; in the corner of her eye she saw Jacko scaling the small outcrop. Smiling slyly, she drew herself into braced stance and looked the eldest of the beowolves in the eye.

"Come on then, you brute." No sooner did she finish her sentence did the entire pack howl and begin to charge her; looking over them and nodding to the now in-position Jacko, he held his hand back, in it formed an orange ball of energy that morphed into a pumpkin shape, spectral fire radiating from it as the rock behind his back glowed orange. Bracing for the large Grimm at the front of the pack, Skye brought her blade in front of her; however, she caught the glowing sphere flying towards it and changed her stance once more. The projectile blasted into the beowolf's back and sent it stumbling towards her.

Pointing the blade's edge upwards, she swung as the beast was flung into her, slicing it in half as the pieces flew to either side of her; stepping back up, she jumped forward, the engagement catching the second young beowolf by surprise as she cleaved it in half with minimal effort. Turning again, she rolled away from an incoming swipe from one of the adult wolves in the nick of time, bringing the blade up and slicing it's large arm off at the elbow, then ducking down to ram its point into the Grimm's chest, pushing it to the ground.

In the background, explosions rang out as Jack rained explosive orbs down on the creatures sprinting out the cave; below him, Grimm were killed and maimed in a storm of pumpkin-shaped charges. The explosions left behind ground scorched and and flaming, making it hazardous for the grim trying to rush through. Barely hearing the roar behind him, Jacko turned to find one of the adolescent beowolves behind him, swinging it's clawed paw ferociously; absorbing most of the hit, Jacko crashed down onto the flaming ground beneath him, the pain of the impact racking through his body.

"SHIT!" Skye shouted, impaling her blade through the neck of the Grimm she was fighting, and charging through a gap in the ones encircling her; sprinting towards her fallen comrade, she reached her other arm down and clicked a switch on the hilt of her sword. Whirring to life, the plates making up it's blade began to separate, expanding outwards to form a larger blade as the central rod began to vibrate audibly.

Struggling to pick himself up, Jacko winced as he looked towards the ledge he had fallen from, watching with horror as the beast that had incapacitated him jumped down to finish the job. Moments before it would have landed, however, Skye slammed into the creature, a flash bursting out as the expanded sword made contact with it in an eruption of static; the charged Grimm colliding with a larger beowolf exiting the cave, the buzzing electricity arcing to it and lighting it up with energy. Smoke poured out from beneath its mask and it collapsed dead.

"Come on." Skye yelled, reaching her hand out for Jacko; grabbing it and standing himself up, he observed his surroundings. In front of them, a cave with beowolves emerging from it and behind them the part of the pack that Skye just abandoned.

"Skye! I need a boost." The order coming as the two groups of Grimm came closer and closer; understanding his intention, she got down on one knee and held the flat of the blade on her shoulders. Jumping on the large piece of metal, Jacko tapped her back and Skye jumped upwards. Hanging over the battlefield, Jacko turned his attention to the larger group already outside the cave, his hand wrapped in spectral fire as a larger pumpkin charge materialised in his fists. The dust-embroidered clothing glowed with the colours of fire and even his skin underneath the loose fabrics began to radiate the same blazing light.

Reaching the apex of his jump, his eyes erupted from a dull orange hue into two flaming pits of orange and yellow; the smirking face of a jack o'lantern opened up on the pumpkin charge and he sent it crashing down into the group, the impact exploding like a meteor collision.

For her part after launching Jacko, Skye had turned to battle the creatures emerging from the cave; one by one using her enhanced blade to cut the creatures down, lightning arcing from her sword to the beasts as they fell. Feeling the blast of Jacko's projectile, she turned and flung her sword towards the impact site; hitting the trigger as the handle left her grip, the blade once again expanded, this time outwards from the flat, as electricity arced between a series of raised pylons and impaled one of the weakened Grimm, powerful surges of electricity arcing from the blade to the rest of the downed Grimm, killing any that survived his attack.

Looking up, Skye rolled forward and braced herself to catch the falling Jacko. Landing in her arms, the two smiled at each other as she set him down; striding out to collect her sword, grabbed the mighty weapon and turned to face the remnants of the beowolf pack. The remaining ones, now only a few adolescents and an adult, retreated into the confines of the cave in a fearful rush. Looking at Jacko and giving him a slight nod, he brought both hands together and began to charge up another powerful pumpkin charge, reaching the size of a beachball with it's wide and jagged smile, Jacko thrusted it forwards, the ball of flaming energy illuminating the dark opening as it flew in. After waiting a few seconds, a small explosion was heard within, before a large burst of flame blasted out of the opening, leaving the inside even blacker with the walls charred by the heat.

"Damn… we did it." Skye muttered, looking at her partner.

"Yeah… we… we did." Jacko rasped, gasping for breath from the exhaustion of using his semblance so powerfully.

"You okay?" Her question was met simply by a thumbs up, the rest of him staying hunched over in recuperation. Dropping down onto the floor, Skye rested against the now-retracted flat of her sword, watching the two older men approach.

"Bravo! That was certainly an excellent display of both camaraderie and ingenuity!" Port shouted, slapping his hands together with a thunderous clap.

"It was certainly impressive; well done, you two." Rat continued, a proud smile lining his face as the two reached the exhausted teenagers. "I think it might be wise to listen to the Professor, I believe he has something important for you to hear."

"You both displayed a great deal of skill in your individual abilities in your performance." He started, Skye and Jacko's face lighting up in delight. "However, your failure to properly observe the situation and control your opponents allowed for one of them to catch you by surprise, a mistake which could have, but luckily didn't, prove fatal." Their faces immediately dropped, staring at their feet with disappointment.

"HOWEVER!" Yelled Port, bringing the faces of the two up to face him again. "...those are the exact sorts of things you will learn with your time at Beacon." He finished, the thick mustache raising up as he smiled warmly at both of them.

"Y-you don't mean.." Skye sputtered, wide-eyed with disbelief, with Jacko taking up where she left off, voiced raised with excitement; "...that we made it in?!"

"Indeed you have, the glorious institution of Beacon will gladly accept you for the new year of hunters-in-training. Well done, both of you." The Professor answered, nodding confidently at the two of them. "Now then! What say we make our way back to Greenbriar? The day is still well and alive, and I can regale you with more tales of my illustrious life of daring, courage, and tenacity!" Sighing to themselves, Skye and Jacko grinned; it was going to be a _long_ trek home.

* * *

 **Hooooo boy, this one ended up taking much longer than I thought (I said Sunday but I'm uploading this Monday, sorry! D: ) However I'm glad to finally have it out. Skye's interesting because her weapon (and by extension her weapon) is the result of an idea that I've had pretty much from my earliest OC concepts.**

 **That actually does it for the trailers! I'm really glad to have them out of the way because while they're not too difficult to write, coming up with a single instance outside of an actual plot/arc to develop a character a little can be a bit taxing, especially if you have to do it 4 times over. I'm going to be talking a bit more about my plans for pacing/length and my thought process in my author breakdown, which I'm going to start writing once this chapter goes up. In the mean time, I really hope you enjoyed these trailers, because in the grand scheme of things they were really fun to write and I hope they all _felt_ good to read.**

 _ **-Nyx**_


	5. Nyx's Fireplace - 01

**Nyx's Fireplace number one; all the colours of the (very pinkish-blue) rainbow.**

As a brief forenote, welcome to a segment that will come fairly regularly throughout the fic, usually at the ends of arcs or when things of particular significance happen that I want to go into more detail of outside of the story.

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Anyhoo, this is the first issue of what I like to call 'Nyx's Fireplace,' where I'm going to go through and explain a whole bunch of things about the content before hand (and in the future, possibly do some Q&A provided I get questions). I'm going to make use of this NF to primarily break down a bit of my process going forward, a few tidbits of detail, and a personal message.

First of all, I wanted to break down a bit how my release schedule and chapter length is going to work. To begin with, I'm looking at (hopefully) bringing an average chapter out every single week (probably looking at the region of 3k-5k words when I say 'average') However I do ask that you take in mind that this is not a fixed schedule by any measure, I'm personally in my last year of school before uni next year, I've been dealing with a lot of concentration and focus issues AND the anxiety resulting from that. I'm going to do my best to adhere to a schedule, but between homework, anxiety and writing block, I'm just going to ask that you bear with me.

* * *

Welcome to the Lore Bubble (trademark pending), today I'm going to just establish some details about particular things that came about in a few of the trailers that I want to explain in more detail.

Firstly, with Cyrus, is the Stahl family; they own the Stahl Hunter Utility Corporation, Atlas' prime producer of standardised hardware for huntsmen and huntresses, all the little things like fittings, parts and munitions follow the Stahl standards. Especially their calibre standards; the chances are that unless you're using an incredibly unique weapon with rounds produced specifically to specification, any gun that fires dust rounds will either use Stahl casings, or use ones built to Stahl measurements and quality. Regardless of where you are in Remnant.

Secondly, with Azura, is the Platanam family; they have an important relationship with the government of Mistral as key diplomatic staff and negotiators. Dating back generations, Platanams have been the go-to for the Mistralian government for all things diplomacy specifically because of their unique hereditary semblance _which Azura exhibits particularly strongly._

Third, with Skye, is her weapon; this thing has been one of my brainchildren from almost when I first began coming up with OC's, the original character to use this concept of a weapon was the King Arthur-based captain of a team of mythological hero characters, with a Perseus-based character, a Thor-based character and a Hercules-based character. They all had lightning/electricity semblances too. The sword has three forms, the first is the dormant form which is simply just a big sword; the second form is also just a big sword, but it will use the electric dust loaded into it to zap things as it is used; the third form essentially just makes it a massive pylon-esque thing, with electricity actively arcing off it and hitting other things.

Speaking of inspirations for characters, did you know that the Perseus-based character design is what became Lily Mithril? They both share my goal of a shield-orientated brawler, however they take different approaches; whereas the original concept used it more defensively (taking big cues from characters like Athena from Borderlands), Lily uses hers more like a big bludgeon (ala Captain America) although it is still a shield.

CONTINUING with this trend of character inspirations, Azura was originally just a regular human until the thought hit me; her semblance makes her fit really well into the whole 'kitsune/enchantress' archetype, so I decided why waste a golden opportunity and made her a fox faunus. So that's cool.

ALMOST FORGOT, (Sneaky edit I'm hoping nobody will notice...wait) Rat in the Skye trailer wasn't me being mean to the poor fella, he's actually loosely alluding to Rat from Wind in the Willows and Mol, the lady behind the bar and his wife, is based of Mole from the same book.

Lastly, the time setting for this fic is probably in the region of 12 years before RWBY itself; which means we _maaaay_ see later on, a character that taught another canon character everything he knew about a particular fighting style. Get hype. I think. This setting is also why Professor Port looks fucking _faaaabulous_ in Skye's trailer.

Part of this segment next time around will hopefully be some Q&A provided I get some questions, if not it will be another info dump like this.

* * *

Lastly, I just want to extend a personal note out to all of you reading. As of writing this, the Skye trailer just went up and in total, there have been 104 total reads of the story, and roughly 20-30 unique readers. It doesn't sound like much but it is _insane_ for me to see that there are people actively reading what I put out, and it's an amazing feeling. I've always had all these different ideas buzzing around my head and always struggled to actually write them. To know that something I've finally been able to get to write has been received (I hope) well is such a massive boost for me. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read so far and I hope you stick around for more

If you feel you enjoy what I write and want to see more, please please please, if it doesn't sound needy, I would love for you guys to try and spread this around a bit and help me build some traction. If not, just knowing you're reading is amazing. If you ever have any questions or just want to give some kind words/constructive criticism, I make sure to read and reply to any reviews I get as soon as I possibly can!

Lastly, I want to extend a huge thanks to the story's first follower:

 **13th Child**

* * *

Well, that's all the blubbing from me over and done with, and hopefully look forward to Chapter One coming around this time next week!

 _ **-Nyx**_


	6. Initiation - Orientation

**OH MY GOD. Fuck. This. Chapter. I started this shit like 5-6 weeks ago and was thinking I'd have it done in a week. First chapters suck. More at the bottom.**

"Cyruuus." Came the excited whisper alongside a soft pat on the shoulder; shifting slightly on the bench, Cyrus groggily opened his eyes, taking in his surroundings. The sleek white walls and grey accents typical of Atlesian design lined the room, illuminated by the soft teal glow of the light bars embedded in the room's ceiling. Turning his head lazily, he faced the other bench and saw Nicky perched on the window sill, gazing out of the glass panel with a wide and excited grin on her face. "Cyrus, wake up!" She said, a bit louder this time, and looked at him.

"I'm up, I'm… I'm up." Cyrus yawned, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position and resting his back against the wall at the side of the bench; stretching his arms up, he looked at Nicky again. "What… what time is it?"

"Middle of the morning. We've just arrived at Vale, look!" Nicky replied, a joyful tone in her voice as she gazed out the window in wonder, taking in the picturesque sight of the kingdom's suburbs. The outer reaches of the city were filled with quaint stone and wood buildings, rustic designs that contrasted with the metropolitan inner-city. "It's… so different."

"How so?" Leaning over the sill like his sister, Cyrus watched the scattered structure among the greenery drift by underneath them, thin wisps of butt passing by the window occasionally.

"There's colour."

"There's colour at home too."

"You know what I mean, idiot." Nicky sighed, slumping back into her seat and resting her arms behind her head. "I dunno, it just looks more alive down there. Everything in Atlas is so… clean."

"That's fair." Cyrus responded, sitting back down and reaching for his scroll; sliding open one of the side tabs and pressing an icon showing food. "You hungry?" He asked, absent-mindedly picking out his order from the options available.

"I'll be good with a sandwich or something. You know what I like." Reaching under the bench, she pulled out her bag and unclipped the sheathed greatsword slung on it's side. Bringing the large blade onto her lap, she opened the latches holding the sword in and ran her fingers over the shining metal.

"Alrighty then." Tapping the confirm button, the scroll buzzed in his hand before returning to it's home screen, a small timer in the top-right indicating when the food would be ready. Looking over to Nicky, Cyrus saw her sword out and swept his eyes over it; the blade was easily four feet long, not counting the handle, and thick enough to hide the mechanical components within. Much like his own weapon it followed a fairly simple design in the Atlesian fashion, favouring function over the flamboyancy prominent in other kingdoms.

The mulled mood within the room persisted for a while, a timid silence created by the fact that both siblings were still sleepy and hadn't eaten in hours. After what felt like an eternity, a small light on the panel next to the door lit up, indicating somebody waiting outside; after pressing the button, the simple metal panels slid aside to reveal a young-adult mouse faunus dressed in the airship's staff attire, her brown hair tied in a neat bun. "Good morning, ma'am, sir; your food has arrived!" Turning around to grab one of the plates from the tray beside her, she offered it to Nicky with a beaming smile before turning to serve Cyrus. Once the food was dispensed, she looked down at her scroll and tapped several options, the receipt appearing on his screen. "Sir?"

Snapped out of a temporary stupor Cyrus looked at her and turned away, a clearly flustered expression on his face as he gained his bearings again. "Oh, uh… yeah. Of course, sorry." He stammered, picking up his scroll and entering the necessary credentials to fulfill the transaction. Giving the two of them another smile, the woman turned and exited the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

No sooner after she had left did Nicky give Cyrus a sharp kick in the shin to get his attention, a devilish grin on her face. "Look at yooou, getting all worked up." She teased, the smile growing in intensity. "Never knew faunus girls were your thing."

"I-I… wha?" The sharp stutters matching a wide-eyed look of surprise on his face, cheeks glowing red with embarrassment.

"Oh my…. Oh my word." Nicky laughed, crossing her arms and pulling herself into a ball on her seat as she giggled. "They actually are!"

"I… I don't know what you're talking about!" Cyrus held his chin up and looked to the side, feigning confidence to save face from her teasing.

"Ahh, I was just messing with you Cy." Calming herself down, she leant forward and gave his knee a little nudge. "If it's any consolation, I thought she was pretty cute too." Peeking out the window, she saw the cliffs of Beacon growing closer, the green light of the tower glowing as it reflected the morning sun's light. "Hey, eat up. We're going to be there pretty soon."

* * *

Stretching her legs for the first time in hours, Lily slowly picked herself up from her comfortable seat onboard the Vacuan airship, unlike the Atlesian design it favoured larger common rooms as opposed to individual rooms, and the warmer colours of the wood tones and the sandstone accents clearly showed its homeland's influence.

Like the other new students on board she began to make her way off of the vessel, stepping out onto the large landing dock of Beacon academy, the picturesque castle of the school and the iconic emerald CCT tower looming over the wide stone plazas and gardens wrapped around the building.

"So this is Beacon… prettier than the pictures." Gazing at the rich green light from the tower, she slowly began to walk forward with the Vacuan group; like many of them, this was her first time in Vale. Stopping with the group, she turned to look ahead, where a handful of third-year students had stopped them.

One of these students, a tall blonde girl with red-pink highlights, waved her hand up to get the group's attention. "Hi guys! Over here!" Getting down from her tiptoes with an exasperated look on her face, she looked over to one of the other students; a shorter boy dressed in a loose tan shirt and breeches, he lifted the brow of his pith helmet up and coughed harshly in another attempt to gain their attention. Failing that, he unslung the rifle from his back and fired it into the sky, the loud crack of the powerful dust shot silencing the group.

"That's better, thanks Iv." The taller girl said, met with a sharp nod by the boy. Turning once again to face the group, she raised up on her tiptoes and spoke again; "So guys, I know you're all excited to be here, but I just need you to listen up for a minute. Alright?" Sensing she had the attention of the group, she continued on. "My name is Rose and this is Ivory, we're here to show you around and get you to orientation on time! So if you have any questions, feel free to come and ask!" Looking over the group, she then began walking towards Beacon itself. "Come on guys, we're wasting sunlight!"

Walking on with her fellow students, Lily tried to slowly press her way to the front of the group; reaching the two third years, they noticed her and turned around. "Oh hey, can I help?" Rose asked, holding out her hand. "I'm Rose, and you?"

"Lily." Accepting the handshake, Lily slowed down to keep pace with them. "I was just wondering, when do we get our rooms?" Her question was met by raised eyebrows from the both of them.

"'course." Ivory chuckled.

"Er… but, yeah. The airship was too shaky and I was out with friends the night before. So… kind of… yeah, I'm pretty tired." Lily moaned, rubbing her eyes.

"Fair enough." Rose replied, smirking at Ivory. "You're not assigned dorms until tomorrow, once you've formed your team." Lily's response was merely a groan of exhaustion. "Don't worry, you'll have a chance for plenty of sleep before initiation tomorrow. Just hold up until tonight and you should be okay."

The Vacuo group continued on, reaching the first junction of the long central path; turning around, Rose motioned for the group to turn towards the school's cafeteria hall for the start of the orientation. Still in her tired daze, Lily lumbered along with them as she just managed to keep pace.

* * *

Overlooking the Vacuo group from one of the grassy knolls was Azura, the silver-haired fox faunus rested on a small blanket place over the grass, using her soft tail to cushion her head from the hard ground. Her loose-fitting robes lightly rippled as the wind brushed them, the light blue fabric embroidered with simple silver patterns that danced as the material moved.

Due to her special circumstances, she had arrived in Vale and gone through the orientation process a while before the other new students, meaning the last couple days had mostly given her time to explore the city and the school. With little to do on the first day of school, she had taken to merely enjoying the summer weather and the buzz as Beacon came to life with the new school year.

Her tranquil rest lasted for a while, until she heard the soft thudding of footsteps on the earthy ground behind her. Opening her eyes and sitting up, she turned to face the pair that had approached her; looking over the both of them, the girl sported a modest tunic dyed in a rich blue and simple brown shorts matching her dirty-blonde hair, the other was a shorter boy wearing a cream-coloured hoody with orange accents alongside a pair of tan cargo pants.

"Hey, do you mind if we joined you?" The boy asked, offering a warm smile at Azura and motioning to his partner at the same time.

Having zoned-out slightly, Azura snapped back to attention and looked around her panickedly; realising they were asking her, she checked the blanket underneath her. "Uhm… sure. I don't really have any space on here though…"

"Don't worry about it, we brought our own. Just wanted some company." The girl laughed, smiling awkwardly before reaching for the backpack she had on; putting it down and pulling out a warm felt sheet, she shook it to it's full size and laid it down next to Azuras. Sitting down on it, the pair turned to Azura and the girl continued. "What's your name?"

"Oh, Azura. Azura Platanam." Azura replied hesitantly, giving a nervous smile and scratching the back of her head. "Y-you?"

Smiling again, a bit more comfortably this time, the girl in blue addressed Azura again. "My name's Skye Kobalt, and my friend here is Patrick Landier." Finishing her sentence, Skye looked slightly taken aback as she noticed him staring daggers at her.

Clearing his throat, he continued to glare at Skye as he spoke. "Yeah, but nobody calls me that. Returning to his more cheerful, warm demeanour, he looked back at Azura and held his hand out. "I go by Jacko, after my middle name."

Azura accepted the handshake timidly, retreating her hand back as quickly as it was extended. "Did you two arrive early as well, then?"

"Yup, got our tour and everything yesterday, so we figured we'd go and see the sights." Jacko started.

"Buuut… this sun is not something to go walking all day in." Skye interjected, looking towards the back end of the Vacuo group in the distance she winced slightly. "I'd hate to be them, having to do orientation in this heat."

"They're from Vacuo… I think." Azura said, quietly. Squinting slightly to see the group better, a benefit of her faunus eyes. "Yeah. They're probably more used to this than we are." She added, softly exhaling in amusement with the notion.

"Sounds about right. We're used to mountains and fog and rain, so this is kinda freaky for us." Jacko laughed, laying down on his side and resting his head on his arm. "Speaking of which, where you from?"

Glancing to Jacko in surprise, she turned her head up and thought for a moment. "Mistral… the outskirts of the kingdom though. It's nice, quieter than Vale though."

Nodding in understanding, Skye nodded her head towards Jacko as she spoke. "Nice. We're from Greenbriar." Noticing the clueless look on Azura's face, Skye furrowed her brow as she thought about it. "Small village, in the mountainy bit at the edge of Vale." Reaching for the massive leather sheath she had put down next to her rucksack, Skype pulled out her colossal sword and rested it on the blanket in front of her. "You have any idea what initiation's gonna be?"

"No." Shaking her head softly, Azura reached for her own bag and pulled out a small packaged roll, taking a quick bite out of it. Before their conversation could continue, the scrolls of all three buzzed as the screens came to life; Skye and Jacko fumbled with the unfamiliar technology, while Azura calmly pulled out the device and flicked it open. On the screen, a formally-dressed blonde woman appeared, looking at the camera.

"Would all first year students make their way to the main plaza, the opening ceremony will be taking place in 30 minutes." Delivering the succinct message, the face on the screen disappeared and the scroll returned to its sleep mode. Standing up, the three of them folded back their blankets and packed their bags again, before beginning to make their way to the plaza.

* * *

The large student body piled into Beacon's main hall, the large and circular room lined with ornate decoration all illuminated by the sun's light, dying everything a subtle green tone as it passed through the large emerald panels of Beacon tower. The four main groups mixed between each other, Valian, Vacuan, Mistralian and Atlesian students intermixed partially by active attempts of intergration and partly by the cramped nature of the crowd.

The constant chatter of the crowd drew to a slight mumble and an eventual silence as the same blonde woman from before stepped to the front of the stage, clearing her throat against the microphone before speaking. "Excuse me. If we could have your sole attention, the headmaster would like to say a few words." Stepping back, she opened up the space for another man striding towards the microphone.

Adjusting the microphone to his height and stature, the man rested his pale hand on the cane; with the other, readjusting his small and wirey glasses. Looking over the crowd, he began his speech.

"I… will make this brief." The short statement resonated through the hall, partially by the power of the audio system but more in virtue of his unique and powerful tone.

"Before me stands the future of our world. Or, to be more precise, the security of humanity. The world of Remnant is one shrouded in danger, and horror, and darkness; indeed, it is a harsh and unforgiving place, forever reminding us from the sidelines, beyond the protected borders of our kingdoms, that we are not safe. That we may easily return to the darkness from which we once came."

"That is why we turn to you. Once again, before me stands the future of our world; and you are exactly that, our future. For when you become Huntresses, and Huntsmen, you do not merely become vanquishers of monsters or heroes of justice, but much, much more. You become humanity's guardians, a light against the darkness that seeks to swallow us once more."

"Understand that this is no easy burden, when I look out among you I see nobody who is ready to accept it on their shoulders. Rather, I see eagerness and courage, hope and determination… but I also see recklessness, and foolhardiness. Until you understand the weight of that burden, and all that it entails, then I continue to see nothing but wasted talent."

"In your time here, you will aggregate knowledge and skill, and that will take you far. Yet, it is only with the resolve of that understanding will you be able to meet your true potential. To gain that understanding, you must take your first step towards the meaning of that burden."

Stepping back from the microphone, the man in green turned and walked from the stage, disappearing behind one of the room's many doors. In his place, the young woman stepped up again and spoke.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow, your initiation will begin. Your time until then is free, but be ready for the challenges tomorrow will pose." Looking over the crowd, she pushed up her glasses once more before concluding. "You are dismissed."

* * *

A short time after the speech, many of the students had gathered at one of the school's large plazas; between groups of people talking, socialising, resting and even sparring, the lively body of students was buzzing with anticipation for what the next day would bring. One of the smaller groups was a body of six Atlesian students, the Stahl siblings among them; sitting on a couple of the plaza's benches, the group was making small talk to pass the time, conversation otherwise dried up by the sheer amount of time there was to kill.

"So Eisen, how's things going to work with Is? You gonna try and do the long distance thing, or what?" Nicky asked, directing the question at one of the other members of the group, a muscle-bound and dark-skinned boy toying with the stave of his large halberd.

"Yeah, we're gonna try, but we'll see how it goes and if it isn't working, we'll call things off." He replied, accentuating what he said with a resigned shrug.

"Sounds good. I'm holdin' out for you, bud." She replied, giving him a thumbs-up. The short exchange gave way to another uncomfortable silence as nobody really knew what to say, conversation choices mostly exhausted with the slowly dropping sun. Eventually the silence was broken, however not by one of the members of the group but by a third year, the bubbly blonde who had been with the Vacuan group earlier.

"Hey guys! I've just gotten word from the Professor Goodwitch, the sparring courts are open if you want to get some practice before tomorrow." Turning and standing on her tip toes, she looked over towards one of the buildings lining the plaza and pointed at it. "It's in that building over there, the big circular one."

"What do you say?" Nudging Nicky's shoulder, Cyrus stood up and grabbed his folded rifle before slinging it over his back.

"A spar? Between me and you?" Nicky replied, raising her eyebrow.

"Nah, I'd be biting the dust before I knew what hit me." Laughing hesitantly, he smiled and held his hand against the back of his head. "Just thought it'd be a good change of pace."

Nicky pondered the proposal for a moment, before hooking the underside of her claymore with her foot. "Sure, let's go." Kicking the blade up into her hand, she stood up and looked over the group. "Any of you want to come too?" A series of shaking heads provided her answer.

Walking along the neat stone path between the plaza and the sparring courts, Cyrus and Nicky, along with a handful of students made their way to the practice arenas. Side by side, the two siblings walked at a slightly slower pace as their peers, partially because Nicky was focused more on stretching her arms and back while she walked. Using the outstretched arms to block the light of the late afternoon sun shining at them, she looked at Cyrus.

"Hey, you don't really want to fight, do you?" She asked, lowering her arms and returning to her normal pace.

"Was it that obvious?" He replied, giving a half-hearted smile before resting his hands in his pockets. "Nah, just needed to get away for a bit."

"Fair enough, I know you're feeling out of place with those guys, but give 'em time." She gave him a soft punch to the shoulder, and gave him an empathetic smile.

"I've got nothing against them, but they're your friends. Just feels… weird." Sighed Cyrus, looking up at the colossal Beacon tower, the emerald-topped point looming over them from the centre of the school campus.

"Yeaaah, well, you're weird like that." Chuckled Nicky, cracking her fingers and pulling the sheathed great sword from her back, holding it with her hand and resting it under her arm. Reaching the large set of doors between them and the courts, she turned her head to look at him. "You'll just get to watch me kick some ass then." She said, winking and pushing open the door.

The collection of students that had come to join the spars began to spread out within the building's large hall, with seating stands around a number of stages raised off the floor and layered in markings indicating boundaries and positions. Intermingling, the students began to pair off as they found partners. Many of the matches had already been found while Nicky looked for somebody to fight, drying up the pool of potential opponents rather quickly; one of the few left was a tall, slender blonde dressed in worn leather armour emblazoned with gold.

"Should I?" Nicky asked Cyrus, glancing at him to see his response, a brief nod coming in return. "Alright then. Stay here for a minute." Walking over to the resting blonde, Nicky smiled and held out her hand. "Hey, you looking for a spar?"

Snapping out of a slight stupor, the girl looked to face her before hesitantly smiling and accepting the hand. Giving it a firm shake, she sat up. "Marie."

"Nicole." Nicky smiled, stretching and looking over at the courts; noticing a spare one, she motioned Marie to follow and for Cyrus to join them. Once they reached the segregated platform, the two began to take out their weapons and prepare for combat while Cyrus opened his scroll to the referee program, linking with the other two scrolls and bringing their aura values up.

Standing at either side of the court, Marie and Nicky took their stances with their weapons as they began to count down the fight. Tapping the option to begin on his scroll, Cyrus offered a count down. "Five… Four…" They both tensed their muscles. "Three… Two…" Deep breaths came from the combatants. "One… Fight!"

As soon as the word came, Nicky darted off her starting circle in a full sprint, rushing towards Marie and holding her claymore over her shoulder, moving as if the blade was weightless. Marie immediately sprang into action, turning off the safety on her submachine gun and firing short but rapid bursts at the oncoming fighter, stepping back carefully. Reaching her with relatively few hits taken, Nicky twisted her hands like a lever, sending the mighty blade crashing down at Marie, who managed to barely block it with the body of her gun. Regaining her footing, Marie barely had time to recover before having to dodge another wide arch from the blade.

Cyrus jumped in surprise as a hand pressed into his shoulder, looking at the new arrival he found himself face-to-face with the third year from earlier, who he found trying to get a glimpse of the screen on his scroll.

"Who's my sister fighting?" She asked, nodding to the two fighting combatants.

"Uh… yeah? Sorry." He stammered, holding up the thin panel so she could see, the bars sitting roughly equal in depletion.

"My bad, surpised ya." Beaming, the girl held out her hand. "Rose Aurum. You?"

"Oh, uh.. Cyrus. Stahl. Cyrus Stahl." He smiled nervously, tentatively accepting the gesture.

"So that's your sister there too?" Crossing her arms and turning towards the fight. "Bet you my sister will beat the hell outta yours."

"Wouldn't count on it." He answered, also looking back at the fight.

Nicky continued her fairly basic assault; swinging long arcs with her claymore paired with the occasional bash and stab. Marie on the other hand remained on the back-step, slowly retreating back to more easily avoid the hits coming at her; with one particularly wide swing, she found her opening. A jolt ran through her hand as, mid dodge, the submachine gun whirred and transformed into a long hand cannon, before the outer plates extended outwards into arms tipped with lights on all four of the points. Ducking down at Nicky's flank, she swung around and fired the powerful shot at close range, the glowing yellow blast pounding into her abdomen and exploding into small yellow petals.

"See, told ya." Rose laughed, looking at the intense duel with glee.

"Nicky's tired, it's been a long day." Cyrus mumbled, looking perfectly calm despite the hard hit his sister took.

Reeling from the hit, Nicky readied herself again before making another charge at Marie; suddenly, the blonde's eyes glowed yellow and Nicky felt the petals from her shot, now adhered to the side she had been hit on, start to glow white hot. Wincing, she felt the phantom sensation of her skin searing beneath her clothes as the semblance grew hotter and hotter; gritting her teeth, she pushed pass the pain and kept up her charge, ending it with a large thrust that barely grazed Marie's side.

"She's fast." Cyrus said, nodding at Marie.

"Yup, damn right she is." Rose replied, smirking. "Takes after her big sister." She continued, pointing her thumb at her chest boastfully.

Cyrus could only chuckle at the exaggerated self-pride. "Maybe so." Calming himself down though, he spoke again. "…but Nicky's faster."

"You think so? She's fighting like the sword's half her weight."

"Just watch." Cyrus answered, nodding towards the two fighters.

Marie, immediately after Nicky's lunge, dodged and turned to fire another heavy shot at the swordswoman; it would have been a sure hit… if she wasn't now perched on top of her perfectly balanced blade. Nicky grinned down at her as she tipped her balance, the sword springing from its position onto the ground to flatten out mid-air. As she fell, Nicky kicked the handle towards Marie, the blade catching the bewildered blonde's leg and giving enough time for Nicky to slide back into her position.

Knocking herself out of the daze, Marie set the gun in her hand into motion, the gun segments expanding into a hilt as the crossbow arms formed into a short blade, the bastard sword coming to rest in her hand. She was barely finished taking a deep breath before she had to raise the sword to block an incoming strike from Nicky; once again, she had no time to recover before the next one. The swordswoman barraged her with strikes in much tighter motions than before, easily meaning she had two or three many times as many attacks to avoid as before.

On one of the many blocks, instead of a follow-up strike, Nicky's boot crashed into her upper leg and knocked her off balance. Tumbling to the floor, the blonde barely managed to roll and dodge as the long metal spear, a transformation of Nicky's claymore, stabbed down at her. Doing her best to just evade the attacks, Marie tried to use her semblance to at least slow her opponent down; despite the searing pain in her side, however, Nicky kept her onslaught coming.

Transforming to the submachine gun once more, taking the opportunity while Nicky was in a position, mid swing, that she couldn't realistically dodge, she pressed the trigger and hammered shots into the swordswoman's armoured forearms. Dropping the blade, Nicky fell to her knees wincing at the intense pain on her arms; using the moment to regain her composure, Marie hoisted herself up, transforming into the crossbow, and she readied the charged shot at her vulnerable opponent.

"Yeah! Go Marie!" Rose shouted excitedly, holding her arms up in the air.

"Wait for it…" Cyrus whispered, nodding calmly at his sister, still bent over but positioned to be looking at the two spectators. Nicky's eyes widened, almost as if she was questioning him; his reply was wordless, just another nod.

"It's alright, y'know. To admit she lost. Marie was one of the best fighters in her year." Placing a hand on Cyrus' shoulder, she gave him a reassuring look. "She still did well, can't fault her on that."

"…when… did you?" Nicky muttered, vaguely in Cyrus' direction, a quizzical look on her face; much to her annoyance, Cyrus just shrugged. Despite her state, she moved in the blink of an eye, rolling over to her sword, she placed the sole of her boot on the handle of her spear and a soft thud could be heard as the magnets mounted in her boot attached the weapon to her. Rolling backwards, she flung her foot up and deactivated the magnets, hurling the spear towards Marie; at the same time, she shot. The bolt erupted as it connected with the weapon's metal, spectral petals of aura dissipating in the air around the impact.

The spear didn't even hit the ground, grabbing the handle with hands numb from pain, Nicky charged at the shocked Marie, transforming the weapon into its lance form and thrusting it at her chest. The strike sent Marie tumbling to the floor, on Cyrus' scroll the bar dipped below the threshold for a loss.

"That's match." Cyrus called, projecting his voice so that the combatants, both slightly stunned from the intense fight, could actually hear him. Turning towards Rose, he smiled softly. "She still did well, can't fault her on that." Chuckling, he then jogged up to Nicky to help her up.

With her brother's help, Nicky pulled herself up and shivered as he used his full aura to brush the burning petals off her body, the golden flakes vapourising as they came off her form. Taking off her body armour, Nicky laid back and sighed with exhaustion.

"Hey Cy." Mumbling, she propped herself up on her elbows and looked at her boots. "I thought you didn't get time to put the magnetic locks in." She softly waved her foot round, judging the difference in weight she hadn't noticed before.

"Did it a couple nights ago, you were out. I think." Smiling, he helped her up and she wobbled slightly, unsure of her footing.

"Alright." Nodding gently at Cyrus she turned to face Marie, who was being helped up by her sister. "Hey." Getting her attention, Nicky continued. "Nice fight. Your semblance is a _bitch_ though."

A bit taken aback by her comment, Marie looked at her wide-eyed for a moment before smiling back. "Yeah, I've heard that a lot. Good fight though." With that, the two sisters began to walk off, Marie still slightly winded by the finishing blow. Once they had left the area, Nicky slumped down onto a bench near the court, groaning in discomfort.

"Fuck me, that hurt." Flexing her arm and wiggling her fingers, she sighed. "I'm actually numb… it hurt that much."

"Yikes." Cyrus stood away from Nicky, and picked up her weapon; setting it to transform back into it's claymore form, he slid it back into the modest black sheath. Hoisting it over his shoulder and nestling it beneath his rifle, he offered to help her up. "Come on, let's get something to eat. It'll take your mind off your arm." The two siblings smiled at each other, and Cyrus supported her onto her feet; silently, the two made their way out of the courts.

* * *

A moderate hum of tired activity hung in the ballroom, as the new students slowly got themselves ready to sleep and tried to settle in the designated sleeping rolls; some students happened to be in a better state than others, as one could only see as Lily slowly staggered to her particular bed for the night and dropped down on it rather unceremoniously, half-asleep by the time she actually made contact.

It didn't take long until a soft voice dragged her from the blissful lulls of sleep, and she opened her eyes wearily to see a silver and blue fox faunus standing above her. "I… uhm. Hi." Smiling nervously, she spoke again, a bit more softly this time as Lily groaned in response. "I think you're in my spot…"

"I am?" With a heavy blink, she propped herself up to look at the label at the foot of the bed. "Shiiiiit." She moaned, looking at the number; it said 3B, she was supposed to be on 3C. Slowly turning over and moving to lift herself up, the faunus interrupted her.

"Don't worry!" She chuckled nervously, putting her things down on 3C. "We'll just swap. Okay?" Flashing Lily a shy smile, her silver eyes held a warm orange tint barely discernable in the dim lighting of the ballroom.

Overcome with discomfort from her awkward position, Lily let out a low groan before allowing her arms to give way, collapsing back onto the soft bed. Speaking into the pillow, she leant her head ever so slightly in the girl's direction. "What's your name?"

"Azura. You?"

"Lily."

"That's a pretty name." Azura spoke softly, focused on the conversation despite her getting the bed ready to lay down, distracted by the distracting task of making the covers accommodate her tail. "I like it."

"Sorry, Azura. I don't do that." Face still in the pillow, the abrupt declaration was barely legible behind it's strong muffling effect. Hearing a noise of confusion from her, Lily mustered the energy to turn onto her side. "With girls, I mean."

Azura gasped in surprise, her pale face running bright red as she blushed. "I-I no I meant - I… uh. It…" Mind racing ahead of her mouth, she eventually stopped to breathe. "I-I just… uh. Meant that it's… a nice name." Laughing anxiously, she began fluffing her own pillow with a good deal more energy than required.

Realising the confusion, Lily half-heartedly raised her hand and gave a lazy thumbs-up. "My bad." Rolling over onto her back, she continued. "The boys back home used to use that one a lot. Learned to just tune it all out now."

"Oh… right. Sorry." Setting the pillow back in place, she reached down to take off the heavy jumper she had on over her pyjama top, a thick and wooly hoodie decorated with star designs. "I… uhm… I wouldn't know about any of that." Giggling hesitantly, she pulled the covers aside and slid in.

"Never had a boyfriend?" Lily asked, awakened slightly by the conversation; her question produced an audible gasp from Azura.

"No!" The blush returning to her face again, she pulled the covers over her and retreated under them slightly; waiting for a moment, she took a breath. "I never really… did, any of that stuff."

"Ah. Fair enough." Resting her arms under her head, Lily threw a few glances around the room. "You know anybody here?"

"No… I never really went to combat school like them." Pausing, she turned towards Lily. "What about you?"

"Can't say I do. I recognise some faces…" Squinting around as she looked, she began to feel the heavy weight of exhaustion on her eyes again. "Most of my friends went to Haven or Shade." The last part elicited a small "Oh." from Azura.

Reaching out her hand, Lily left herself open to any gesture, be it handshake, or a high-five. "You seem alright, Azura. What's say we try and team up? If we get the chance." Taken aback slightly, Azura reached out herself and tentatively accepted the gesture, shaking her hand quickly before pulling it back.

"Sure." She replied, feeling the growing sleepiness herself.

"Sweet." Lily replied, punching her two hands in the air in celebration, but softly and with obvious tire in her movements. Looking over at the clock on the centre of one of the main walls, she began to roughly nestle herself in between the covers and embraced the warm comfort. As if on que, the lights turned out and the room became dark; taking it as an indication, Lily whispered to Azura. "Probably a good time to get to sleep."

"Yeah… we don't want to be exhausted in the morning too." Smiling and nodding to herself, Azura also pulled her blankets up. After a short amount of time, the two girls were completely asleep, the odd giggle and whisper from the room doing nothing to faze the pair.

* * *

 **So… uhm… geeeeeeeeez. Here I am. Well over a month after the previous chapter, which means it's been at least a month longer for this chapter than I had planned…. yikes.**

 **Not much of an excuse really, a lot of things started happening at once and the fic was always the kind of thing I could let slide, which sucks because I really enjoy it, but oh man this first chapter was a drag. I felt the whole time like I was padding it out to get it meaty enough, and I even shoehorned in a fight scene somehow (not that happy with it's implementation and framing tbh) but I am so glad it's over with.**

 **This is the bit I was unsure about, I didn't really know how I would do the pre-initiation, so this chapter was really me just crawling in the dark, figuring it out as I went. On the upside, it's here now! The first hurdle is over and I have a fairly good idea for the rest of the initiation stuff, so I should be okay for 2-3 chapters at least.**

 **I'm going to avoid giving a definite times scale, but I'm going to tentatively put a loose deadline maximum at 3 weeks. Hopefully I have it out before then, but I'm giving myself that goal post to try and manage before I get panicky over unrealistic goals.**

 **Business aside, I hope you really enjoyed the first chapter more than I did writing it! (Haha!)**

 **Thanks for all of you who have been standing by despite the lack of content, knowing there were at least some people interested probably kept me from scrapping this all together. So here's to you!**

 _ **-Nyx**_


	7. Initiation - Into The Breach

**Yep. I'm alive. I think.**

 **This is going to be a bit of a shorter chapter for a few reasons, explained properly at the bottom.**

"Pssssst" Cyrus hissed, poking at Nicky's cheek aggressively, the latter still being nestled in the warm embrace of her bedding. "Nicky. Wake up." Jabbing harder this time, he managed to illicit a response from his sister in the form of her slapping his arm away; sighing with exasperation, he stood up and pulled the covers with him as he did so, causing her to shiver and curl up defensively.

"Five more..." Her sentence was broken by a loud yawn. "...minutes." Turning to bury herself in her pillow; dissatisfied with the response, Cyrus placed his foot on the small of her back and began to press down lightly, the discomfort eventually causing her to place her arms up in surrender. "Fiiine… I'm - huurgh - getting up."

"Finally." Glancing around, Cyrus groaned. All the other beds were empty, and most of the people in the ballroom were almost ready to head to the cafeteria. "You're the last person still in bed. I could be eating breakfast right now, if I didn't have to wake your sleepy ass up."

"Wait… I'm the last one..?" Propping herself and scanning the room, Nicky gave out an exaggerated wail of despair. "Awww… all the good food'll be gone…" Facing Cyrus again, she nodded her head towards the exit. "Go and eat, I'll catch you up."

"You sure?"

"Yep."

Burying his hands in the pockets of his thin jacket, Cyrus began to step away. "Don't take too long, alright? I'll save you a space." With a thumbs up from Nicky in response, he began to make his way towards the exit of the room; it wasn't long before a familiar blonde jogged to catch him up.

"Hey, you're Nicole's brother right?" She asked, extending her hand out. "Mind if I stick with you?"

"Erm… sure." Slightly taken aback, Cyrus merely smiled to her and accepted the handshake. "Marie, right? Name's Cyrus."

"Nice to meet you, Cyrus." Smiling back, she buried her hands in the pockets of her bomber jacket, a brown leather one with a bright yellow vest underneath. "Where is your sister, by the way?"

"Oh. She…" Cyrus took a deep sigh. "...she was the last person to get up."

"No shit, really?"

"That's right."

"Damn." Marie thought for a moment, furrowing her brow as she did so. "Does she know that they stop serving breakfast in ten minutes?"

"Nope, she does not." Cyrus answered, looking a bit uneasy as they entered the cafeteria; joining the moderately-sized queue of people. "I'll have to grab her something while I'm up here."

"Good idea." Marie mused, grabbing herself one of the serving trays. "You guys are from Atlas, aren't you?" Noticing Cyrus' nod, she continued. "Cool, you ever been to Vale before?"

"Nah, we haven't." Grabbing two cans of drink from the shelf next to them, he placed it on his tray. "Aside from the odd holiday to Mistral, we never really left Atlas."

"Damn. Well if you want, I'd be happy to show you guys around." Telling the server what food option she wanted, Marie took the plate with her breakfast on before continuing to Cyrus. "Vale is a really nice city, lots of old historic stuff and things to do."

"So I've heard." Paying for his and Nicky's food at the till, the two left to try and find an open table; finding one, they began to make their way there. "Back in Atlas everything is so pristine and modern; some of the stuff I've seen already here is so… jarring. It's weird."

"Haha, I've been told it has that effect on people." Giggled Marie, taking a mouthful of oats while Cyrus did the same from his bap. The two remained silent for a few moments as they ate, focused more intently on their meal than small talk; that was until an arm grabbed the spare sandwich on Cyrus' plate and sat next to him.

"Morning Cy." Nicky said, unwrapping the piece of food as she did so; looking over at Marie, her face lit up with a smile. "Hey! How you doing…"

"Marie."

"Right, Marie. Sorry, terrible with names." Chuckled Nicky, burying herself in her sandwich in a feeble attempt to cover up her lapse of memory.

"Don't worry about it." Marie answered, exhaling sharply at the frantic efforts of Nicky to save face; smiling back, she continued. "I'm good, thanks. I was just talking to your brother about Vale." She took a brief break to take a bite of food. "Apparently this is your first time being here."

"Oh yeah, that's right!" Putting her food down, she leaned over the table slightly as she excitedly talked to Marie. "There's all the old stuff isn't there?! Like, the big castle in the city and all that."

"Haha… yep. That's… that's right." Replied Marie, a hesitant grin resting on her face, overwhelmed by Nicky's enthusiasm. "Do you like history then?"

Nicky was about to speak, but was interrupted by the sound of Cyrus' chair being pushed back; standing up and stretching, he looked at the two girls. "I'm going to head off, need to make a few last minute checks on my gear." Picking up his tray and taking a step away, he stopped and turned to face Marie again. "You got her talking. Have fun." Smirking at her, he started walking away again as Nicky launched into a long ramble about her love of history.

* * *

"...so how do you reckon they'll - select the teams?" Lily's question was briefly interrupted as she pulled her shield off the brace in the locker, clipping it onto a small metal plate resting on her back.

"I'm not sure. All the teams seem to be made up of two pairs though, maybe that has something to do with it?" Azura replied, clutching the two custom-made daggers; the finish on them was still pristine and the shine perfect, they had been freshly made for her to use at Beacon.

"Yeah… sounds straight-forward enough." The taller girl fiddled with several lines following the length of her arm and shoulder, leading to the shield mounted on her back; with a satisfying click, the components locked together to form a flexible rail for her shield to slide down her arm. Covering her wrist was a silver bracer, the rails ending roughly in its middle at a second locking mechanism.

"I suppose that raises another question though." Squinting with thought, Azura fiddled lightly with the weapons in her hands.

Lily looked at her "Hmm?"

"How do they pick the pairs?"

"That's… that's a good question, actually." Lily answered, reaching to her hair and tying it into a single ponytail as it shimmered in the late morning light seeping into the locker room; her hair's light purple tone matched the décor of her combat outfit, a suitably lightweight combination of a jacket and several pieces of body armour, combined with reinforced leggings and shin/knee guards. "I suppose we won't know until we're actually in our initiation."

"Makes sense." Replied Azura, her gear consisting of a loose-fitting robe top that exposed the tunic she wore underneath; her legs were partially covered by a pair of soft and baggy shorts capped off with a pair of plain boots. She wore minimal armour, as she liked to be quiet and light on her feet in combat.

Resting a slightly-ragged shawl on her shoulders, Lily sat down on the bench nearby and allowed herself to slacken slightly. "Today's going to be a long day… I can tell."

* * *

"…You will be using your own landing strategy."

"I… uh… I'm sorry, what?" Skye asked, taken a little aback by the statement from the headmaster; she turned to Jacko, standing on the pad next to hers, with a confused expression. "Landing… strategy?"

"That just means stop falling."

"Stop falling?!" Shaking her head in disbelief, Skye hesitantly positioned herself on the large metal plate underneath her feet. On her right, the student two pads down was flung away. "We could die!"

Jacko's eyes widened with surprise then furrowed his brow with a hint of doubt. "I… just figured the 'not dying' part was implied."

"That doesn't help the situation!" Skye yelled, as the person on her other side was thrown off the cliff.

"Well at least we're clear on the issue!"

"HOW?!" Skye screamed. "How are we any clearer on what's happening right now?!"

Jacko merely shrugged. "Stop falling. Don't die." Scratching his head momentarily, he continued. "Seems pretty clear to me!"

"Jacko! This isn't helping anything! For fu-" Interrupted by the whirring of motors underneath her feet, a loud click interrupted Skye's exclamation as she felt herself get hurled towards the forest.

Sailing through the pleasantly warm air, Skye felt the unsheltered heat of the bright sun wash over her body as she hurtled through the sky; fighting against the drag of the air flying past her, she began to slowly bring her arms and legs in towards her core. Pressing her eyes closed, she felt the gradual decay in her momentum as she approached the end of her fall; opening her eyes to a squint, she saw herself rapidly reaching the forest floor.

 _Shit shit shit SHIIIIT!_ Skye would have yelled the words out loud, had it not been for the sudden impact with the ground; slamming into the earth and throwing dust and dirt all around the clearing she had landed in. Sitting for a moment, she did her best to catch her breath. "Never… again." She mumbled, grabbing her hefty sword from its hold on her back, and using it to prop herself up.

* * *

Unlike the swordswoman, Cyrus used his armour's built-in stabilising thrusters to slow his descent and make his landing with much more grace. Taking a moment to pat down his body and look around, he took in his surroundings; he found himself on a raised hill overlooking part of the forest.

Slowly, he began to make his way down the grass-covered slope, sinking into the lines of the trees below him and entering into the shade, away from the warm summer sun. He had to tread through a small amount of undergrowth, but nothing severe enough to hinder his movement; however, it was enough to narrow his view.

Cyrus reacted a moment too late as the feline Grimm burst from the undergrowth, the powerful legs of the beast shoving him onto the ground before turning to leap onto its floored prey. As it leapt, the young huntsman raised his feet to kick it back and his aura hummed as his semblance activated, a set of three hexagonal projections appearing over the soles of his boots, the cyan-toned plate of solidified aura appearing between him and the beast. Kicking out, his semblance catapulted the beast into a nearby tree; it barely had time to recoil before a burst of explosive dust shots smashed into its neck.

Cyrus picked himself off and brushed down his clothes, the now-dead Grimm beginning to slowly disintegrate where he had killed it. Looking over his gun to make sure it wasn't damaged; he recalled his semblance, the aura plate fizzling out. Content, he continued on the path towards the relic site, which was a good distance north-west of his own position.

He had made good headway into his trek, covering several kilometres of the distance towards the relic site and dispatching individual Grimm as he went; shortly into his stretch on an old bridle path, he heard rustles coming some distance to his left. Running to take cover behind a tree, he took a small peek around the trunk to attempt to find where the noise had come from; thankfully, the cause of the commotion did so for him.

A quick swish of a blade was all he heard, as several large ferns in the direction of the noises fell to the ground; in their place stood two of his peers, one of them he instantly recognised as his sister, and the other a skinny male in cream and orange coloured robes.

"Nicky?" He called, coming out from behind the tree and lowering his gun.

Nicky looked to see who called her name and made eye contact with Cyrus. "Cy!" She yelled back, jogging up to him with her companion in tow. "Finally. Do you have any idea where we are?"

Taken slightly aback, Cyrus looked around at his surroundings. "About two kilometres out?" Glancing up to see the position of the sun, he realigned himself. "To our north east."

"Ah. Right." Turning to her companion, she sighed with resignation. "I guess I was taking us the wrong way. M'bad."

"No problem, don't worry about it." Adjusting one of the shoulders on his robe top, he reached his other hand out to Cyrus. "Name's Jacko, yourself?"

"Cyrus."

"Sweet." Scratching the back of his head, Jacko looked between Nicky and Cyrus. "So… do you two know each other?"

"Yeah, he's my big brother." Nicky responded, reaching up to grab Cyrus' shoulder while beaming.

"Yep." Cyrus added, looking back up at the bright summer sky. "We can talk while moving, come on."

"Oh, cool. So where you guys from?" Jacko asked, glancing at the two of them. "Atlas, I'm guessing?"

"That's right. What about you?" Nicky replied, hacking through the undergrowth with her sword. "Where's home?"

Stepping over a large log, Jacko dusted himself off. "Vale, but not the main kingdom." Tucking his hands into his pockets and keeping pace with the other two, he continued. "Me and my friend are both from there, hope she's doing okay."

"Friend… eh?" Giving the redhead a quick elbow, she flashed him a quick smirk while Cyrus sighed behind her.

"Bit early for teasing isn't it? You barely know the guy." Cyrus threw out the statement, sounding more like he was thinking out loud than actually speaking to them.

"We're going to be partners for the next four years, might as well get started now."

Exhaling sharply, Cyrus slackened his stance and lowered his gun. Pointing to their right, he looked at the other two. "There's a stream there, we can stop and take a break if you guys want. Make sure we're good to go as we get to the relic site."

"Good idea, I'll sweep the area and make sure there's nothing hiding. You two take a seat, alright?" Nicky began to walk towards the surrounding foliage, moving her arm as the large claymore transformed into its spear form.

* * *

 _No!_ Thought Azura as the Beowolf's paw slammed into her side, sending her twin daggers flying from of her hands as she tumbled to the ground; breathing heavily, she barely managed to leap out of the way of another strike from the beast, a large Grimm easily twice her height. Stepping backwards as the beast approached, she looked desperately for something to use to fend it off.

 _Mind blank, keep your mind blank, Azura._ She repeated the statement in her head like a mantra, trying to purge the fear from her mind to try and avoid sending the Grimm into a state of total bloodlust. Using the extra time from not getting torn to pieces, she brushed her hand on the rock face behind her, hoping to find a piece of stone that she could do _something_ with. As her searching grew more frantic, Azura began to resign herself to her situation, pinned to a rock face with a twelve-foot Grimm between her and the only way out of this situation. Then she heard a rustle from the foliage above her head.

* * *

Skye walked across the rocky path, the thick treeline around her reminding the swordswoman of her home as sunlight filtered through the thick canopy above her; still reeling from her sudden landing, she was grateful that her semblance had mostly resisted the blow. She would have been still absorbed in her thoughts, had she not heard the deep bellow of an adult Beowolf come from her left. Without even thinking, she unslung the large sword from her back and sprinted towards the source of the noise.

Skye burst out from the undergrowth as she leapt from the small outcrop overlooking the large Grimm, and one of her fellow hopeful-huntswomen; using her fall, she crashed down onto the Beowolf, impaling her massive blade into its neck and down its spine. Landing, she tugged the sword out of the twisted flesh.

"You okay?" She asked, stepping back from the dissolving corpse of the Beowolf and resting her sword in the ground. "Did it hit you?"

"Y-yeah." Sighing softly, Azura stood and brushed the dust off her clothes. "A couple times." Walking over and grabbing her daggers, she clipped the weapons to her belt. "So, we're partners now?"

"Guess so. Come on, the ruins are this way." Skye held the sword in a resting position and began to walk towards the forest, her brisk pace forcing Azura to jog in order to keep up. For a while, they walked through the forest with little trouble; aside from a few run-ins with Aye-Ayes and a stray Beowolf, their time was quiet.

A thunderous roar bellowed through the trees; Skye immediately went tense and drew her sword as she judged the sound, trying to figure out where it came from.

"This way." Azura said, unclipping the daggers from her belt and running to their right. Darting through the trees with the spryness of a fox, she rushed towards the origin of the roar; forcing her way through a bush revealed a titanic Ursa Major standing over another student. Without hesitating, Azura leapt at the Ursa's back, aiming her dagger and firing the blade into the nape of its neck; with her other dagger she shot the blade into a nearby tree and pulled on the tight wire connecting it to the handle.

Using the first strike to distract the Ursa, she ducked to avoid a vicious swing of its paw and rolled around it, catching the wire on the Grimm's leg and winding the wire tight around its shins. Pulling the snare, Azura did her best to hold the beast in place. As if on cue, Skye then leapt out of the brush and slammed into the creature's abdomen to knock it over; as it fell, she brought the edge of her sword down onto its legs, slicing them off at the knee. Stepping up and embedding the blade into its chest, she flicked the trigger on her sword, and electricity surged through its body. Shuddering for a moment, it then went limp and began to dissolve underneath her.

Azura ran up to the student who had gotten caught in the pit; brushing off the dirt and letting them turn over, she immediately recognised the face. "Lily?" Wide violet eyes stared back at her, the Vacuan girl sat still in complete shock, paralysed with fear.

"What's wrong with her?" Skye asked, sitting down near them and resting her sword against the rocky outcrop.

"I… don't know. I think…" Looking Lily in the eyes, Azura's own widened. "She's petrified, that thing terrified her."

"If she's terrified of Grimm, why is she here?" Skye asked, with her eyes narrowed in doubt.

"I'm sorry..?"

"I don't mean anything rude by it, but being a Hunteress is hard if you freeze up whenever you see a Grimm." Elaborating, Skye slackened her position a bit and rested against the rock face. "If she wants to survive, she needs to get her act together."

Hearing the criticism, Lily slowly turned her head to look at Skye. "I… I don't. D-don't…" Tears brimming in her eyes, she tucked her head into her arms and pulled her knees up.

"Skye." Azura finally said. "I understand what you mean, but that isn't the way to do this." Turning to Lily, she grabbed her cheek and held up her face to look in her eyes. "Lily, look at me." Looking up, Lily saw the reassuring and warm tone to Azura's irises. "You're okay now."

"Y-yeah." Lily replied, starting to blink away her tears.

"Are you able to move? Quicker we go, quicker we're out." Holding her hand out, Azura helped Lily off the ground.

"Come on, let's go. As nice a day as this is, I don't want to stick around." Skye commanded, hosting herself up with her sword and lifting it up onto her shoulder.

Lily gave a heavy sigh as she kept pace with Azura, the pair walking a few metres behind Skye. "Thanks."

"Hmm?" Azura replied, clipping her daggers to her belt.

"For sticking up for me." Brushing her hair aside, Lily looked down at her boots. "I… just don't know what came over me. I saw it and… and froze."

"Don't worry about it. I still remember the first time I saw a Grimm." Noticing Lily looking at her, Azura continued. "I was about seven; my dad was away on business and we couldn't get someone to look after me, so I had to go with my mum on a mission. She'd been sent out to investigate some disturbances at a small mining camp in northern Mistral." Azura took a deep breath. "On the second morning, I had been walking around the courtyard when a Skoocoom jumped in from the treeline; biggest creature I'd ever seen and covered in armour and spines. I… screamed, as kids do, and it turned and looked straight at me."

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"It started coming towards me pretty fast, and would have gotten to me if my mum hadn't jumped in and stopped it. I've never seen her move so fast, watched her riddle the thing with holes and it was down in seconds."

Lily's eyes went wide. "Woah…"

"Yeah, my mum was pretty cool." Smiling wistfully, Azura rested her hands into her pockets. "I think that's what made me want to be a huntress, watching how in control she was…" Noticing the confused look on Lily's face, her smile brightened and she waved her hands in a slight panic. "Anyway, let's focus on walking!" Calming herself down, Azura looked at the sky. "It's going to be a long day…"

* * *

 **Yay! It's here! I actually got a chapter finished!**

 **As you can probably notice, this one came in at about 2/3k words shorter than the previous one, and this is for a few reasons:**

 **\- First chapter was the intro chapter, meaning it ended up longer than I planned.**

 **\- This is the 'middle' chapter of the Initiation arc, a lot of it is bridging last chapter to the next chapter, and linking up all the characters.**

 **\- Been busy so I've had less time to write.**

 **Now onto the more general stuff; I'm fairly happy with how this chapter turned out. Some _hopefully not super ham-fisted_ dialogue, some exposition, few odd skirmishes here and there. Let me do some more character development on quite a few of the characters.**

 **In terms of next chapter, I'm not gonna lie, I have my super huge-deal exams coming up from the 10th of June through to the 21st that decide whether I go to university or not, so as you can imagine they'll be my main focus for the next month and a bit. But once those are done, I have 2-3 months of free time! Isn't that great? So I'm going to place a fairly reasonable time-frame for the next chapter at _very_ late June or early-mid July, I won't be committing to intensely writing it until after my exams, only really working on it before that when the urge hits me in my downtime. So yeah, cool. Cool cool cool.**

 **As far as longer-term goes, I have a reasonably good plan for how the story will progress for quite some time (internal shipping, angst, watershed events, etcetera) and I I've worked out how it'll probably be structured:**

 **\- 3 chapters for the arc (4 for super important ones or if I feel like it needs it. Pacing!)**

 **\- A Fireplace**

 **\- One-Shot chapter (usually some kind of comedic piece (spoilers, first one will probably be Mr. Introvert Cyrus realising he's on a team with three girls.)) These will be canon but not always chronological.**

 **\- 'Volumes' will probably be 3-4 arcs long, usually where the last one is a big and defining event.**

 **Lastly, as you may have noticed, there's a cover image now! Using the miracle that is school computers having photoshop, I created a little banner/card for Cyrus, including his symbol. It isn't perfect and I whipped it together very quickly, but hey, it's better than nothing, right? I'll probably eventually make them for the other three too, but this'll be it for at least a while.**

 **I think that's about it. Until next time;**

 _ **\- Nyx**_

 **(PS; if anybody actually cares enough, I'm open to any questions you want to ask, and if I get any I'll do a little Q &A section in the next Fireplace)**


	8. Final Announcement (RIP LACS)

Short announcement

This has been something brewing for a while, but I've begun to slowly lose inspiration with Team LACS and just found that what I wanted to do and them as characters was developed incorrectly, and rather than write myself into a hole I want to cut it off now and go back to the OC drawing board.

One of the main things here is that I wanted to go back to basics and build a new set of characters from scratch; part of what prompted this was the recent World of Remnants, which gave me a better idea of what each kingdom represented and what characters from each would be like. Another big thing was a renewed focus on what _makes_ a character in RWBY, and not only the ties to colour but association with something, be it a character or a concept, and how I wanted to use that for my OCs.

Let's face it, each significant character in RWBY proper has something we can associate them with; RWBY are fairy tale characters, JNPR are historical cross-dressers, Ozluminati are Wizard of Oz characters, Cinder is Cinderella. You don't see any kind of similar links with either LACS or PMCN.

With that in mind I'm starting to draft up some simply better and more interesting OCs and a more interesting story than totally-not-rwby beacon adventures. Some concepts will be new, and some other ideas (such as Azura's character design, and concepts from Skye and Lily) have been carried through to my in-progress team.

There isn't too much else to say, except that I thank you for your interest in LACS, and that hopefully you understand why I'm sticking them on an indefinite hiatus. I hope you will join me once more when this new team/story comes to fruition, and I'll see you then!


End file.
